"Mother!"
Daniel's voice came out louder and sharper than he intended, so both Georgiana and Mrs Lambert looked up at him in surprise.
"I was just speaking to your choir mistress," Mrs Lambert said, coolly looking from her son back to Georgiana, who was standing close to Robert. "I was asking whether she offered private music lessons. You know that Robert has always so enjoyed playing the piano, although he has been afforded little opportunity to practice at home." Her lips quirked in a manner that exhibited polite distaste, a look Daniel knew only too well. He understood its cause, too. Father disliked hearing Robert play, claiming that music was a feminine accomplishment and despairing of his many errors.
"Miss Darcy isn't a music teacher, Mother," Daniel began, glancing desperately at Georgiana again and praying silently that she would take no offence at his mother's mistake.
"Miss Darcy?" Mrs Lambert's eyes widened. "Then you are sister to - "
Daniel heard a pointed cough behind him and turned to find both Mr and Mrs Darcy standing there, bemused and a little curious about the tableau before them.
"Please allow me to introduce Mr and Mrs Darcy, Mama." He drew a breath, hoping his discomfort was not quite so evident to his new friends. "This is my mother, Mrs Marianne Lambert, and my - my brother, Robert." His voice trailed off as he introduced Rob, who had taken a slight step behind Georgiana, evidently a little overwhelmed by all the new faces. Daniel's smile grew pained. He knew only too well how intimidating Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy could be on first meeting, but he was surprised to see the usually stern features of his friend and neighbour stretched in a welcoming smile.
"You are newly arrived, I think?" he asked, nudging his wife a little closer into their small circle. "Indeed, Lambert made no mention of your coming." He shot Daniel a reproachful glance, tempered with a smile to indicate that he was teasing. Daniel blinked, unsure what to say in response to this.
"We arrived yesterday," Mrs Lambert said. "Alas, my husband has been forced to remain in London, but we could not let Daniel's first Christmas in his new parish pass without note."
"Then you must accompany him to Pemberley tomorrow," Mrs Darcy said, with a warm smile of welcome. "Please say you will!" She leaned forward, with a conspiratorial smile. "It is my first Christmas in Derbyshire and I rather lament the loss of my crowded childhood home. It won't be the same with only a few of us!"
"What my wife means," Darcy put in, exchanging a wordless glance with his bride. "Is that you would be most welcome, all of you, to spend Christmas with us. Lambert, I hope you do not feel you have to excuse yourself on account of your family's arrival. You are all welcome to join us."
Daniel nodded, nervously at first, but growing in confidence as he saw his mother's surprised and pleased expression. Whilst not quite as superior in her connections as her husband, she still recognised the value of position, and an invitation to spend Christmas at the estate of Fitzwilliam Darcy had evidently raised her son in her estimations. She glanced anxiously at Robert, clearly torn.
"You are very kind, Mr Darcy," she began. "But my son -"
"Please do not think it will be some great formal affair," Mrs Darcy put in. "And you need not stay the whole day if you do not wish to." She glanced from Daniel to Georgiana, so swiftly that he might have missed it, had he not been looking at her. "But we would very much like to see you."
This warmth was a rarity amongst his mother's London friends, whose affection was usually an affectation, deployed as a weapon. Mrs Lambert was caught off guard. She merely smiled and nodded.
Darcy's eyes caught another acquaintance and he and his wife were steered away from their circle to form another, leaving Daniel with his family and Georgiana, who was soon deep in conversation with Robert about the concert and her own favourite Christmas pieces.
"They seem nice," Mrs Lambert murmured, her voice low enough that only her son would hear. "I did not realise you had formed such a close alliance with the Darcy family."
"Alliance, Mother?" Daniel rolled his eyes. "You make it sound as if we were waging a war. They are friends - that is, they are acquaintances…"
Georgiana seemed to stiffen as if she had heard his words and did not approve of them. Abruptly, or so it seemed to Daniel, she bid Robert a farewell and walked swiftly away, leaving a gap in her wake that Daniel was only too aware of.
"Well!" Mrs Lambert began, evidently shoring up to rail against Georgiana's poor manners. Daniel was in no mood to bear his mother's judgments, though, particularly when he suspected he was the cause of Georgiana's abrupt departure.
"Excuse me, Mama, I must speak to one or two people more before we leave." Turning on his heel, he stalked away before she could summon up a cause to keep him in place, and in a few long strides he had caught up to Georgiana, clearing his throat and addressing her before she could disappear entirely into the crowd.
"Miss Darcy!"
Georgiana stopped but did not immediately turn around. Still, Daniel persevered, taking her lack of further movement as an invitation to speak again.
"Miss Darcy, I have not yet congratulated you on this evening's concert. You did a marvellous job and I appreciate all the efforts you put into preparing and performing." He smiled a little ruefully and it was this she caught sight of as she turned, at last, to look at him. "It is to my detriment that I was not more enthusiastic at the prospect of a concert from your very first mention of it. Even then, I ought to have deduced that you would make it a success."
"Even then?" Georgiana raised her eyebrows. "Come now, Mr Lambert. Let us not forget your very first opinion of me was rather less than flattering. What was the word you used…frivolous?"
Daniel's cheeks flooded with heat and he looked away, too quickly to see the smile that made Georgiana's features shine.
"Yet, if we are speaking of first impressions, I must also repent of mine. I hope we might claim to know one another a little better now?"
There was more meaning behind her question than Daniel could understand at first, and he lifted his gaze, hoping to discern something from her expression. Her smile remained in place, but her eyes were clouded with concern.
"I am pleased to have made your mother and brother's acquaintance."
Daniel nodded, not quite trusting himself to speak.
"I trust that you are pleased to see them. It cannot truly be Christmas without one's family close by, surely?"
"It seems my father does not share your opinion, Miss Darcy." Daniel's voice was grim and he prayed his bitterness was not quite as obvious to Georgiana as he felt it must be.
"Well, friends, then," Georgiana pressed, her eyes wide as she fixed them on him, watching him carefully. "I hope you feel as if you have friends here, even if they did not begin as such."
"Yes, Miss Darcy," Daniel said, his features relaxing into the first genuine smile he had worn since his mother and brother's arrival. He wondered if she could glean the deeper meaning behind his words and dared to hope, from the warmth that flooded her cheeks, that she might. "I do have friends, friends I value more highly than I can say."